Lost Little Sister
by shelizabeth
Summary: Danielle is the fifteen year old sister of popstar Demi Lovato. The summer after her freshman year, Demi is about to start her world tour and has two months off. Her parents decide it's best if Danielle gets a break from Texas and spends her summer in Cali with Demi, where Dani will finally come face to face with her inner demons, with a little help from her big siste
1. Chapter 1

All I could think about was how hungry and tired I was when I walked through the door. I was happy to be finished with my first year of high school, and the promise of summer was still exciting enough to be putting me in a good mood. Even though I knew it would eventually amount to me spending most of my time alone in my room, I was still too excited not to have to wake up at six in the morning every day for two months. I thought about heading to the kitchen when I walked into my empty house, but I decided to wait it out. I was trying not to eat as soon as I got home anymore. I wanted to lose some weight.

The house was quiet as expected, neither of my parent's cars were parked out front. If they were home when I got home from school, they were never in the garage, because they usually were still going out before the end of the day. Apparently it was easier to just keep them out front so there was easy access to the exit of our fenced in _mansion._ I'm not kidding about the mansion; even if I had friends I wouldn't bring them over, because it's so embarrassing. Well, maybe that's the wrong word for it. It's pretty cool. But the times that I have invited friends over, the interest quickly shifts from me to my house and what my parents do for a living. My mom's a stay at home, and my dad's in finance. _But that doesn't make sense_, they'd exclaim. I would shrug, as if it was a mystery of life. I'm sure some people know who my sister is. It's not like a big guarded secret. I've been to a ton of her concerts, her fans always tweet me on twitter. It's not like I'm a recluse. It's just that if the people at my school know, they _don't_ talk about it. It's sort of like a manners thing. I'm pretty sure they know and are a little off-put by it, or at least, just don't know how to approach me. I'd like to think that's why I have no friends. At least none that I talk to outside of school.

I'm slinging my backpack over my shoulder and taking the stairs two steps at a time when I hear a voice from the kitchen.

"What, Dani, no hug?"

At the sound of her voice, I turn around quickly, peering into the kitchen. Demi is sitting on the barstool, patiently waiting. Her hair is short and brown now, different than the longer pink hair she left with the last time I saw her.

"Demi!" I call, partially in disbelief. I drop my bag on the floor so I have both hands free to give her a hug.

"How have you been?" She asks me, and when I finally pull away I can see her smiling.

"Good. Why are you home?"

"Nice to see you too, kid," she laughs. "Can't I come spend some time with my favorite little sister?"

I laugh. "Don't tell Dallas or Maddie," I joke, even though it doesn't matter. I always felt closer to Demi than my other sisters, and it has nothing to do with the fact Maddie is our half-sister. When our mom left Dallas, Demi, and my dad, I was only a newborn. I think like only weeks old. So I don't remember any of him at all, but Dallas and Demi do. Dallas is the oldest, but for some reason, Demi is the one who really latched on to me when I was born. She always tried to protect me. She still does. I know she loves Maddie, and I love our little sister too, and I would never admit it out loud. But I love Demi best. Maybe it's because Demi is the famous one that doesn't really get to be home, so I build her up more in my mind. But I don't know. I love her just as much when she's here too.

"So school's out?" She asks me. "Got any plans?"

"You know me," I joke. "The biggest party animal of them all."

"Hey," she laughs. "That's not even funny!"

"It's a little funny," I say slyly. "How long are you here for?"

"As long as I want."

"No, I mean really Demi."

"The world tour starts September 6th," she caves.

"You have the whole summer off?!" I ask incredulously. Demi has been in the show business career as long as my memory goes back. Never has she had two solid months off. Especially never has she had two months off that I _also _have off.

"I mean, there's going to be rehearsals in August..."

"But until then?" I ask, letting the hope fall out of my voice.

"I mean, if it's okay with you, I was thinking we could spend some time-"

I didn't let her finish, I hugged her again for my answer.

When I wake up the next morning, I'm bored for only a moment. Then I remember that Demi is down the hall in the bedroom kept especially for her. I check my iphone for the time, it's 6:13 in the morning. Wow, I think to myself with annoyance. My first day of summer and I'm up early enough to go to school. There's no way Demi is already up. I roll over and stuff my head in the pillow, willing myself to go back to sleep. I give myself about thirty seconds before grunting and sitting up, totally defeated. I'm completely starving, and haven't eaten since lunch in school yesterday, so I decide I deserve some breakfast. When I walk down the stairs, Demi is sitting at the island drinking something green in a cup.

"Demi?" I ask sleepily. "Is that you?"

"Yes," she laughs. "It's me."

"Why are you up?"

"I'm used to early roll times. It's a hard habit to break."

"You're telling me. I need coffee," I exclaim, causing Demi to laugh. In my pajama pants, I shuffle to the insta-coffee packets in the cabinet.

"Listen, Danielle, I wanted to talk to you," Demi starts, and I can feel her watching me tear open the package of coffee.

"Mm-hmm?"

"I've been talking to Mom and Eddie the past few weeks about this summer."

"Yeah?" I say, getting impatient. I've never seen Demi nervous. She's always so put together. Even when she's not.

"We all think it would be a good idea if you spent some time away from Texas for a little while."

"Huh?"

"We decided that the best option for you right now is to spend some time with me in California. I have the whole summer off, so we'll get to spend all our time together. We'll just hang out."

"_You_ guys decided? Funny because I don't remember being informed on this decision about _my _life."

"I thought you would want to," Demi said, caught off guard by the intensity of my anger. To be honest, I was a little caught off guard too. A summer in California with Demi seemed like something I would have to _beg_ my parents for. So something about them shipping me off there didn't feel right. But I had no idea what was going on or why, but I knew I felt off about it.

"Well you thought wrong," I spit, abandoning my not ready coffee and going back upstairs to my room to write. I half-expected Demi to follow me up there, but she didn't. She didn't.

"Do you need any help packing?" Demi stood at my doorway when she asked, as if she didn't want to push me too far. Well, it's too late for that, Demi, I think to myself.

"No," I mutter, but Demi sighs and comes in anyway. I try to ignore her when she sits down on my bed. "I said-"

"I know what you said, Dani," Demi interrupted me softly. "We should have consulted you about it, okay? I'm sorry. But there's nothing we can do now."

"Uh, yeah there is," I responded dumbly. "You can let me stay home."

If Demi was hurt by the fact that I was acting like I didn't want to spend the summer with her, she didn't show it.

"Alright, well, that's not going to happen. We're leaving in an hour for the airport. Will you be ready?"

In response, I huffed, too angry to give her much more than that. Demi sighed and poked my stomach when she got up to leave, and I held it, too stubborn to give in to the ticklish spot that had always been my weakness.

In truth, I had no idea why my parents were sending me to live with Demi. A few years ago they would have dropped to the floor at just the idea of it. But that was when Demi was out of control. She barely came home then, so I really only knew of her what the world knew of her. I was twelve when she went into treatment, and I didn't really understand much more than just the fact that Demi was in a hospital for her brain. Of course, now I get it. Since Demi shared it with the world and everything. Demi is definitely a different person now, and a better one. But I still don't understand why I'm being sent off to live with her. After Demi broke the news to me yesterday morning, my parents talked to me later. They said they knew I was going through a hard time right now and they think Demi is the one who could understand me best. I'm going through a hard time? How would they know that? They're barely even home, but they think they know if I'm going through a hard time. Why can't they just accept that maybe they actually have one normal child? I have my problems, but not problems where you get shipped off to, like, a boarding reform school or something. Maybe a summer in California wasn't exactly a boarding school, but it was the same idea. Being shipped away, instead of handling things. That was definitely my parents style. Well I would show them. I would be absolutely miserable the entire time. I would not enjoy one second of it, and I would come home in August even worse off than I left. Then they can actually deal with some real problems.

Not to mention going away for an entire summer required some actual packing. I had never been away so long. My family was big on travel, but the most I ever did was a week vacation. Any other time, someone stayed at the house with me and Maddie if Dallas couldn't. Those were the worst times, when Dallas stayed. I love Dallas, she makes me laugh more than anyone in the world, but if Demi and I had a special relationship, well, that was what Maddie and Dallas had. Except Maddie and Dallas got each other all the time, and I was the third wheel while Demi was off being a celebrity.

My suitcase was bigger than me, but still, I somehow stuffed it to the top. I sat on it and tried to zipper it, which was an enormously frustrating task, but after sweating and panting, I finally got it. I figured I could be helpful and bring my bag down and wait, or I could sit in my room and wait to be dragged down by my mom or Demi. I decided on the latter, choosing to begin my difficulty spell immediately.

It took twenty minutes of staring at the wall in complete boredom and stubborness before my door was knocked on again.

"Honey?" my mom called through the paneled door. I could picture her leaning her ear against the side of the door listening for a response, her cheek touching the glitter letters that spelled ou that I put there like a million years ago. I kept meaning to take those off; they were childish. "Are you ready? Demi's packing the car and waiting for you."

Good, I muttered under my breath. Let her wait.

"What?" my mom called.

"Nothing. I'll be down in a minute."

I heard my mom's footsteps walking away from the door, and I did a last minute check of my room. I checked the bathroom, the one that adjoined my room and Madison's. I felt a twinge of sadness that I wouldn't see it again for two months, and a twinge of excitement that I quickly swallowed down. I would not be excited.

I would have to be much stricter with my diet in California. At home, I was pretty much torn between wanting to be skinny and thinking life is too short to care, and so pretty much I ate whatever I wanted to whenever I wanted to. I had the privacy at home in case I overdid it, in case I went too far. I didn't do it often. I wasn't like, sick, or anything. It was only on the really, really bad days. If I totally overdid it with junk food, I would throw up, only because I felt disgusting having so much of that crap in my body. It wasn't like I did it every day. I barely did it all anymore. I used to do it a lot more, but I fixed myself all by myself. I didn't tell a soul about it. I really didn't have much of an option. With Demi Lovato, a.k.a national eating disorder awareness spokesperson, as your older sister, it was kind of ridiculous to be dealing with exactly that. So I dealt with it on my own. Mostly I wrote in journals. It helped a lot, because it felt like somebody was listening. But I still had the really bad days, in which I had to throw up a little. But in California, there was no way I'd be able to. So I would just have to be stricter on my diet there. Maybe I would even lose some weight, maybe I'd come back and start my tenth grade year skinnier and prettier. I'll probably be tan, too. Maybe California isn't so bad of an idea.

Feeling much better about it, but determined not to show it, I decided to comply and roll my suitcase down the spiral stairs where my parents were waiting for me. They were in a line with Dallas and Maddie and my two dogs, Demi standing by the front door behind them. I stared a little strangely at them. My mom looked like she was going to cry, and when they all went down the line to hug me, I swear Dallas almost squeezed the life out of me.

"It's only two months..." I said worriedly. I was coming back, wasn't I?

"I know. I'm just going to miss you," my mom said, hugging me again. I nodded, my anger still not subsiding from the fact that they made the decision without me.

"I'm jealous," Maddie said. "I wish I could spend the whole summer in Cali."

I rolled my eyes. She was such a twelve year old.

"Bye guys," I said, waving at Dallas, Maddie, and my dogs. I was still angry with my parents. I wouldn't look at them. Demi put her arm out as I approached her, putting it around me as I walked into it. She gave me a nudge, and I knew she was telling me I should say bye to my parents. But I was too angry. Too angry.

Demi wouldn't stop trying to talk to me the whole car ride to the airport. An hour may not seem like much, but it's a lot of Demi chatter. She kept talking about all the exciting things we were going to do, and how happy she was that she was going to get to know me better, and how much she's missed seeing me grow up.

"Yeah, well, whose fault is that?" I snapped. That made her quiet for a solid five minutes.

"This is going to be good for both us," she said as we pulled up to the airport, convincing me or herself, I'm not sure.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke up with a pain in my neck and a dry throat. I wiped the slobber off my chin with the back of my hand before looking around.

"Morning, sleepy head," Demi joked, giving me a little nudge, and I realized my head was on my shoulder. I lifted it up and looked around, trying to remember falling asleep.

"How long I have been out?"

"Since about ten minutes after we took off," Demi laughed. "I just woke you up because we're about to land."

"Really?" I asked in disbelief, but feeling pretty excited that I didn't have to wait any longer to see California. I quickly detected it on my own voice and forced myself to lower my smile back into a straight line. It was too late; I could see it in Demi's eyes. She noticed it.

"Really," Demi answered, her eyes twinkling. I turned away to make sure I didn't give up anything else.

"You could have moved me," I mumbled under my breath. "So I wasn't sleeping on you this whole time."

But Demi wasn't listening, she was already getting up and walking down the aisle of her private plane. I sighed and grunted, then followed her as if it gave me an immense amount of pain. Feeling safe that she couldn't see me from behind her, I let my feet bounce a little down the aisle in excitement.

"So this is it?" I asked, standing in front of a giant building with my suitcase in my hand.

"This is it," she smiled, waiting for my reaction. I remained stoic, mostly because I didn't really know how I was feeling. "Well, we should get unpacked. Then I can show you around a little if you want."

"Okay," I nodded, following through the main doors. She lived on the top floor. Typical, I guess. "So do like, all the coolest celebrities around town live in this building?" I asked, and Demi laughed out loud.

"Maybe the celebrities of the local nursing home," she said, still laughing. "It's mostly elderly people here."

"You live in a building with all old people?" I asked, incredulous.

"Hey, it's not so bad. A lot of quiet, cozy nights. Perfect for us, right?" She asked, giving me a little nudge.

"I told you, I'm a hardcore party animal now," I couldn't hold back my joke. It was hard to stay mad at Demi.

"Right. Of course you are."

"You don't know me," I joked, but it was bitter in my mouth, and both Demi and I stopped laughing. "Sorry," I said, looking down. "I didn't mean it."

"No, it's okay. You're right."

"It's not your fault, Dem."

"It is. But it's going to be better this summer," she promised me, and I believed her.

The giant white duvet in Demi's guest-turned-my-temporary bedroom was comfortable to sit on, but so sweaty to sleep under. I woke up feeling like I had wrestled with the devil. For a minute after I woke up, I forgot where I was, then it all came flooding back to me. I was across the country. I was staying with my sister. I rolled over to my plugged in phone, now fully charged. It was almost nine in the morning. I must have been exhausted, I reasoned with myself, because normally I woke up at six without an alarm. I had two missed calls from my mom, a text from her asking if I was okay, a text from Eddie asking how I was liking California, and a picture message from Maddie of the dogs. I smiled at the picture, feeling a pang of sadness over missing them. I texted Eddie back, because for some reason I was less angry with him. I told him I was fine, everything was fine, and to tell mom to stop harassing me. I knew he would talk to her for me about backing off so I wouldn't have to. I stayed on my phone for a little, then out of a mix of curiosity and hunger, got up to see what Demi was doing.

The kitchen was empty, and I didn't feel comfortable enough to go through her cabinets, so I walked down the hallway towards her room. I saw her bedroom door, a crack open, and considered knocking. Instead I found myself peeking one eye in. I could see her face from where I was standing in the doorway; she was fast asleep. I pondered waking her up, but decided not to. I didn't want to make her upset with me. Instead I kept walking. Maybe I was being nosy, but I couldn't very well do it while Demi was awake, and I had a weirdly suspicious feeling that the only alone time I was going to get all summer was when Demi slept. I justified to myself that it was harmless, that it was just so I would feel more comfortable staying here, which it would. I didn't want to spend the next two months feeling like a guest. Feeling pretty satisfied with my reasoning, I made my first stop at the bathroom. The thing to do in the bathroom seemed to be going through medicine cabinets. Some vaseline, nail clippers, face cream, ipecac syrup. Pretty boring stuff. I picked up the ipecac syrup and shook it around a little. It was about half full. I wondered if Demi had it when she was sick, and with a pang, I wondered why she would still hold on to it if she did. Feeling too nosy for even myself, I put it back and slipped out of the bathroom, closing the door quietly, as if I was in a horror film.

The next room was an exercise room. I sighed. It was so typical Demi, but I was sort of glad for it. It would come in handy. I could see myself working out with Demi and talking about life and all my troubles. The idea made me smile, but the room was boring, so I closed it and moved on. I was getting to the end of the hallway now. The last door was narrow, definitely more likely a closet than a room. I figured it was probably like spare towels or something in it stacked on neat shelves, but I decided to open it anyway and see for sure. The door was stuck, and I had to jiggle with the doorknob to get it to slide out of it's frame. It was pitch dark, even though the hallway was illuminated with lights from the window. I scrunched my eyebrows and pulled the hanging string from the ceiling.

When the light turned on and I saw what was in the closet, my jaw dropped to my knees and my stomach hurled itself in cartwheels. I let out a scream so piercing and blood-curdling while jumping backwards, I ended up slipping out from under my feet and landing on my butt, only inches from the opened closet door.

I was still on the ground when I heard Demi's voice.

"Dani! Dani are you okay? What happened?"

"I-I," I stammered. "The closet. I was just-"

But before I could finish, a laugh erupted out of Demi's mouth. I stared at her in wonder. No part of this was funny!

"You found my halloween decorations, clearly," Demi said, still laughing.

"It's not funny!" I defended. "This shit looks real! You're psychotic."

Demi was holding her stomach laughing now, and I crossed my arms, but only for a moment, because when Demi got a hold of herself she was reaching her arm down and helping me stand up.

"Were you snooping?" Demi asked, with a smirk on her face. "And watch your language!"

"No!" I defended much too quickly. My cheeks were scarlet at her scolding me and catching me in the act of sneaking around her apartment. "I was just looking for... a towel. To take a shower."

"In the bathroom," Demi raised her eyebrows, clearly not believing my story. I nodded once, then awkwardly moved past her. I guess I was taking a shower now. "Hey, what are you in the mood for?" She called after me. "I'm going to make breakfast."

"Oh, I'm not really hungry," I answered. "I get sick if I eat too early in the morning."

"Dani..."

"I'm serious, Demi. I just don't like eating in the morning. That doesn't make me you," I said coolly, and I could see her flinch, so I turned away so I didn't have to think about what I had said. I closed the bathroom door behind me, feeling foreign and weird and wanting to be home with my dogs, and my annoying mom, and annoying Maddie, and annoying Dallas. I decided to sit on the floor of the bathroom for a minute, but the tiles were cold on my bare legs, so I shifted myself to the rug in front of the shiny white tub. Everything in Demi's bathroom was so clean. I figured she probably barely used it, probably only used the giant bathroom attached to her master bedroom, but still. It was a sight to see. I didn't know if I wanted to live in the bathroom, or never touch it because I would ruin it. I knew I suddenly had the urge to call my mom, feeling guilty I told Eddie to tell her to back off earlier. I was convincing myself she'd have understood when I finally stepped into the tub, feeling the shower water at just the perfect temperature. It felt refreshing, and I realized I was feeling more groggy than I realized from the plane ride and settling in. I don't know how long I stayed in there, but it must have been awhile, because when I got out my fingers were shriveled like prunes and my lungs were feeling tight from the heat. Because my shower was unexpected to myself, I walked out of the bathroom wrapped in one of the warmest and biggest towels I had ever encountered, hoping to sneak to my room without being spotted.

I walked down the hallway swiftly, trying to figure out if I wanted to hide away forever or explore these new lands. Eventually I walked out of my room awkwardly in white shorts and a black tank top.

"Demi?" I asked timidly, before she came into view.

"Huh?"

"Do you, um, have a hamper?" I asked, holding my dirty towel in front of me. Her eyes glazed over it and her mouth formed the letter O.

"It's in the laundry room. At the end of the hall."

"You mean the room by the closet?" I asked, my eyes widening.

"Yes," she laughed. "I promise, you'll survive."

I shivered and turned around to walk down to the end of the hallway. Sure enough, in the room adjacent to the narrow closet door was a room with a washing machine, dryer, and white wicker laundry basket. After I dropped my towel in, I pulled my hair back into a messy bun, since it was dripping wet and leaving spots on my shirt. When I turned around, I jumped back, startled at the sight of Demi.

"What are you doing?!" I yelled, my hand over my chest.

"I wanted to know what you wanted to do today."

"And you had to follow me to find out?" I said louder than I intended. I expected her to defend herself, but instead just apologized quietly. "I'm sorry," I mirrored, feeling bad for overreacting. "What can we do?"

This seemed to lighten her mood. "Let's go shopping," she grinned.

"Shopping?" I asked, for the first time it dawned on me that I didn't have any money. I knew Demi was a celebrity and all, but still, I barely got to see her, and I was weirded out at the idea of Demi paying for everything for me for two months.

"Yeah. Ever heard of it?"

"Yes," I said sharply. "I just never do it."

"Never?"

"I don't like it," I admitted.

To my surprise, Demi put her hand on my back and rubbed it up and down. I scrunched my eyebrows, looking up at her like she was crazy.

"How about shoe shopping?" she asked.

I shrugged, having no reason to object to shoe shopping besides the fact that I had no money. I wondered if she knew I dreaded shopping for clothes because nothing ever looked good.

"Did Mom send you money for me?" I asked suddenly. Demi looked at me like I was crazy.

"Dani, really?"

"I don't want you to pay for everything," I said stubbornly.

"Then yes, Mom sent me money."

"You're just saying that!"

"Well what do you want me to say?" Demi said, annoyance hinting out of her voice. I suddenly felt smaller.

"Tell me the truth!"

"The truth? You don't want to hear the truth! I don't know what you want to hear, Dani. You just want to be mad over something and I don't know why," Demi said, her voice becoming more sad than mad. "I want to spend time with you. I want to get to know you better. You know that I love you more than anything in the world and that I'd do anything for you. I don't want to see you struggle, but if you are, I want to be there for you. I just don't know why you're keeping me an arms length away."

"Maybe because that's where you've always been!" I snapped, and I hated myself for the tears that were brimming at my eyes. Demi's shocked face made my lips quaver and I wanted to disappear, I wanted to be home so bad, I wanted to be anywhere else. I felt so vulnerable and so stupid.

"Dani," Demi's voice was soft, and for some reason it made my sadness gain a little more strength inside me. I didn't wait for her to continue, I didn't care anymore. I went in to hug my big sister, wrapping my hands around her back. It took only seconds before I could feel her hands cradling my head when I sunk into her. For some reason, hugging Demi, my entire body erupted from soft crying to hysterical wails. When I finally pulled away, Demi wiped my cheeks with her thumbs and then held my face in her outstretched hands. I stared at her, waiting for her to say something, since she was squeezing my cheeks and I couldn't really speak. Instead of saying anything though, she pulled my towards her and kissed my forehead, and I felt the last of my tears falling down my cheeks.

"I'm sorry," I said, looking down, embarrassed. "I don't know where that came from. I don't usually cry."

"You don't have to hold it in anymore, baby girl. We're going to do this thing together. I'm on your side."

I stared at her softened face, felt the hardness in my own melting away to match hers.

"You promise?" was all I could croak out.

"I promise," she smiled and nodded happily. And I believed her.


End file.
